Harvard Graduate Student Chosen For China Study

A Harvard graduate student has been recently selected as one of a few American students to participate next year in the first official student exchange program between the People's Republic of China and the United States.

The Washington-based Committee for Scholarly Communication with the People's Republic of China (CSC) chose Thomas B. Gold, a Sociology tutor, and several other students to take courses at Chinese universities beginning in January. The Chinese government-must still approve the students and issue their visas.

Gold said Thursday the CSC chose seven graduate students and three independent researchers to participate in the first phase of the exchange, with 50 more participants to follow in the second phase next September.

The United States has completed its authorizations for the exchange, Halsey L. Beemer, professional associate with the exchange committee, said Thursday.

The CSC will submit the names to Chinese officials in one or two weeks, Beemer said, adding, "We expect a response very quickly.... We don't expect any problems.

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The National Science Foundation and a corresponding agency in China negotiated the exchange agreement in October, with the U.S. government designating the CSC as its operating arm to administer the agreement, Bemer said.

Roy M. Hofheinz, director of the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research and professor of Government, said Thursday if the exchange is approved, the participants will enter China in mid- January, following briefings in Washington.

Hofheinz said the exchange was not a certainty. He said there was a risk that political troubles in China, as evidenced by recent wall poster campaigns in Peking, could cause the exchange to be delayed or canceled, especially if unrest spreads to the universities.

Hofheinz said the program is extremely important symbolically. In the past the Chinese had refused to conduct such exchanges until the diplomatic impass between the two nations is resolved, he said.